Tutrakan

Tutrakan Тутракан
Memorial of the Tutrakan battle in the Military cemetery of Tutrakan Memorial of the Tutrakan battle in the Military cemetery of Tutrakan
Coat of arms
Tutrakan Location of Tutrakan
Coordinates:
Country	Bulgaria
Province (Oblast)	Silistra
Government
• Mayor	Georgi Georgiev
Elevation	107 m (351 ft)
Population (31.12.2009)
• City	9,476
• Urban	16,436
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal Code	7600
Area code(s)	0857

Tutrakan (Bulgarian: Тутракан, Romanian: Тurtucaia, Turkish: Turtukai) is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, an administrative centre of the homonymous municipality, part of Silistra Province. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube opposite the Romanian town of Oltenița (to which it was linked through a ferry but the ferry does not work anymore), in the very west of Southern Dobruja, 58 km east of Rousse and 62 km west of Silistra. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 9,476 inhabitants.

History

The town was founded by the Ancient Romans in the end of the first half of the 1st century under the name Transmarisca. The settlement was part of the Roman military boundary in the 1st and 3rd century and reached its apogee in the 4th century, when, under the personal management of Diocletian, it was made one of the largest strongholds of the Danubian limes.

The ancient town and fortress were destroyed in the beginning of the 7th century and the modern town carrying its present name emerged in the end of the century, remaining a military centre through the Middle Ages as part of the Bulgarian Empire, which was conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th century.

Tutrakan was liberated from Ottoman rule during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 by Russians to become part of the Kingdom of Bulgaria. After the Second Balkan War, it was incorporated, along with all of Southern Dobruja, in Romania until 1940, when the pre-World War II Treaty of Craiova returned the territory to Bulgaria.

During World War I, the town, then part of Romania, was the site of the important Battle of Tutrakan during which Bulgarian and German Central Powers forces defeated the Romanian forces.

Today it remains a vibrant fishing village, and the historic Fisherman's Quarter continues to attract tourists, bicyclists, boaters and artists.

Population

Tutrakan
Year	1887	1910	1934	1946	1956	1965	1975	1985	1992	2001	2005	2009	2011	2013
Population	no data	no data	no data	7,183	9,592	9,926	11,425	12,119	11,573	10,322	9,713	9,476	??	??
	Highest number ?? in ??
Sources: National Statistical Institute, „citypopulation.de“, „pop-stat.mashke.org“, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Honour

Tutrakan Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Tutrakan.

Gallery

• Tutrakan-military-cemetery.jpg

  1764 Bulgarian soldiers rest in the military cemetery in Tutrakan

• Monument of Panteley Kiselov in Tutrakan, Bulgaria.jpg

  Monument of Bulgarian general Panteley Kiselov, who liberated a part of South Dobrudja during the First World War.

External links

• Photo gallery of Tutrakan
• Tutrakan municipal council website
• Tutrakan museums website
• Tutrakan Historical Museum website
• Website of the Muslim board in Tutrakan
• Kalimok-Brashlen Protected Site website